Parents love board books. Small children love board books. But let’s face it. Board books get some of the roughest treatment in the library. Babies and toddlers aren’t the gentlest of creatures. These books get tossed around, pulled apart, and sucked on and chewed more than any other collection in the library (at least, this is true in my experience). Therefore, we should constantly be monitoring these items for condition as they are checked out and returned. They are practically self-weeding.
The spine on this board book is obviously damaged and was not worth fixing.
I really like that the board book collection tends to weed itself. When they are bent and torn in half, it’s time to go. When they are chewed and slimy, chuck ‘em out the door-I mean come on! Would YOU want to give your child something another kid has salivated all over? Especially these days?! Sometimes board books might look grungy or be sticky from little fingers full of food. If you want to try to clean them, good for you! But sometimes, cleaning them just isn't enough and no matter what you do, they still look grungy or are still sticky. If that’s the case, just let them go. At least you can say you tried.
This board book has obviously seen better days. The edge is soggy and waterlogged and the inside page has also been damaged as a result.
Weeding by condition gets rid of most of the problem items in this particular collection. For most people, this will seem good enough but it’s still a good idea to run a report once a year or so to see if there are any board books that just aren’t getting checked out (and if you have anything show up on this list, WHY ARE YOU STILL HOLDING ON TO IT?! Those kids and parents obviously don’t want it, so throw it out!) By weeding out all the gross looking board books, you can make it look like a whole new collection of shiny, exciting titles for your little people to discover!
Guest post by: Ashley Borman, Technical Services Librarian, Clintonville Public Library
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